1. Pick up the
phone. I have yet
to find a better way of
"marketing oneself" then
speaking with a prospect on
the phone -- it's way better
than direct mailings and
cheaper too. Looking for
folks to call? Try
whitepages.com or do a
search on neighborhoods --
it's free.- Allen E. Shea,
independent advisor

3. Identify your
target customers.
Create a three-tier or
dartboard approach to
profiling sales prospects.
The top tier or bull's-eye
of the dartboard represents
the prime target audience.
Spend the most time with the
tier in the bull's-eye and
the least amount of time
with the third tier. The
marketing strategy should
focus on a message to
address the needs of each
group.

4. Establish and
understand your primary
geographical market area.
Identify your geographic
area by zip code, county,
neighborhood or other
parameter and understand the
prospects who live there.
Then develop marketing
campaigns to promote
relevant product offerings
based on life triggers and
other events that may be
happening in your community,
including new homebuyers,
births, marriages within
this area and target
products and services to the
event.

5. Develop a
"drip" list. Create
a list of your best
prospects that you contact
on a monthly (even weekly)
basis with key information.
Keep your name out in front
of your target audience.

6. Sponsor or
organize high-profile
events. Invite your
first and second tier
prospects to speaking
engagements, which highlight
industry leaders. Often
organizations sponsor
quarterly or bi-annual
speaking engagements with
industry leaders from your
organization. By inviting
your best prospects, you
establish credibility and
show them that you
appreciate them.

8. Create a bio
sheet. Use a
professional photo and share
both your professional
resume as well as personal
information on what makes
you unique within the
industry and why prospects
should work with you.

9. Develop an
integrated marketing
strategy. Contact
your prospects through a
number of marketing channels
including direct marketing,
Web site information, email,
telemarketing and, of
course, personal meetings.
For example, you can use
direct mail to drive traffic
online to your Web site for
product information, rate
calculators and financial
goals worksheets. Promote
your online resources with
direct mail and in other
print media.

10. Have a true
marketing plan.
Develop a contact strategy
consisting of direct mail,
telemarketing, newsletters
and special events such as
seminars and other
educational formats that is
designed to build a
relationship with their
prospects over time.- ChoicePoint Precision
Marketing

11. Get published
or speak. If there
is a way to either author an
article in a local
publication or newspaper or
participate in a speaking
engagement - do it. Nothing
creates credibility faster
than getting published or
speaking.- Melissa Baker, Kathy
Weaver and Brian Lara of
ChoicePoint Precision
Marketing contributed these
marketing ideas.

12. "Don't Miss
the Boat" event.
One of the most successful
strategies I've seen for
raising the awareness of
referrals and bringing in a
stream of new business is
called the "Don't Miss the
Boat" event. Yes, it may be
a little gimmicky, but this
is an event we've never seen
fail -- it has consistently
produced referrals and
results. This event is
similar to a client
appreciation event, however
the only people that are
invited to this event are
clients that have referred
others to your firm.- Maribeth Kuzmeski, MBA
Red Zone Marketing

13. Buying lists
of people turning 65 to 66.
Many people are confused
that even though the age for
full benefits under social
security has risen to 66,
this year the age to join
Medicare A & B is still 65.
A lot of people are
continuing to work and pay
higher-than-necessary costs
for health coverage due to
this confusion. A quick call
to offer to mail info
regarding the real deal, and
then a follow-up call to
explain, has proved
invaluable in gaining access
to people's lives at a time
when so many needs are
changing.- Roger T. Nickel, CSA,
CLTC Bankers Life & Casualty
Company

14. An insider's
view: The Asian market
For the last 30 years of my
sales career, I have sold
aviation services. One thing
I learned is it takes time
to earn the Asian
population's trust but once
you have, they are truly
loyal customers who are
quick to refer you to other
potential customers. While I
have only been selling FIAs
for just over one year, I
have begun earning that
trust in this field as well.
Living in the San Francisco
Bay area, we have a heavy
Asian population attending
my seminars. These attendees
are slow to commit and
required patience in
appointments as they are
very diligent in their
research.

Consider selling to
ethnic specific markets and
you will find a tight knit
community that will follow
recommendations from their
friends and family.- George Stark, life
insurance and annuity
advisor

15. Radio, radio.
I host and produce a live,
weekly financial radio
program. This has enabled me
to establish credibility and
define myself as a financial
resource. It has also been a
platform to advertise my
financial workshops. In
addition, it has provided a
forum for people to ask
questions and for listeners
to call and arrange for
individual consultations.- Stefanos Loisou,Financial
Workshops/Strategies for
Life

16. Upsell.
When an applicant
is approved at the top rate,
make the suggestion that he
take advantage of increasing
the amount because he has
qualified for the very best
rate. Point out that he may
not be able to qualify again
for this rate in the future
and that the premium for a
greater amount is quite a
bit less on an overall basis
because there is no
additional policy fee, and
higher amounts are banded
resulting in a lower cost
per $1, 000.- James (Jim) Carow, AIC

17. Knocking on
doors. When I
started in this business, I
ran out of my initial market
within 60 days. I decided to
cold call and began knocking
on business doors. I would
also send out a letter that
focused on the magic of tax
deferral with current rates.
I discovered that, in some
cases, by following up with
a phone call to inquire the
receipt of the mailing
ultimately gave me a few
daytime appointments.

Today, 60 percent of my
new business comes from my
existing clients that
introduce me to their
friends, family and business
associates.- Thomas Doncaster, CLU,
CWM, Doncaster Insurance &
Financial Services, Inc.

18. Referrals are
priceless... By
making yourself known,
either through local
organizations or just by
being an active member of
your community, people tend
to ask, "What is it that you
do?" From there you will
receive not only clients,
but an endless supply of
referrals. People want to do
business with someone local.
This is what has driven me
to qualify as an MDRT
member.- Fred Claghorn, CLTC,
USV Financial Advisor

19. The ad
approach. I use a
statement in my
advertisements and materials
that says: "Financial
planning? Long term care may
be the only asset you own
that affords you the ability
of never going to a nursing
home. What asset are you
missing in your portfolio?"- Curtis V. Cloke, CLTC,
LUTCF Financial
advisor/agent

21. Networking
Recently, I was invited to
join the local Chamber of
Commerce. Much of what we
accomplish is by marketing
and networking and these
organizations offer great
opportunities for us as
financial professionals to
meet more people and promote
our services.

22.
Don't spend your entire
marketing budget at once.
Marketing works on
repetition. The more a
consumer sees your ad, the
greater the chance that
consumer will buy your
product or service. And
understand that advertising
is salesmanship. When you
create an advertisement, it
must sell just as a
salesperson would. Use
conversational language and
words.

23.
Write and distribute a press
release at least four times
a year. The media,
particularly your local
media, is always on the
lookout for a great story,
so write one for them. Use
these stories to tell
customers why you are
different, and why that
difference is a benefit.
This must be done in every
aspect of your marketing.

24. Speed
networking. The
local Chamber of Commerce
recently hosted a
speed-networking event. As a
result, there were several
alliances that appear to be
in development for me
including an estate planning
law firm that wishes to
employ my services on behalf
of their clients and a large
property and casualty,
multi-office group that
wishes to allow me to offer
financial workshops.

25. Keep plugging
away. We must
continuously market and
introduce ourselves and
display to others the
enthusiasm and dedication
that we share for the
important work that we do.

26. Suitability
spotlight Don't try
to make your client fit a
product. Find a product to
fit your client. Too many
agents have a favorite
product due to its
commission structure, bonus
opportunity or crediting
style. Then, they try to
make each client fit into
that product. Yes, you can
have a favorite and if it
fits, sell it. But many
times, the client will tell
you what they want. Don't be
afraid to search out a
product that most closely
resembles what they want
without sacrificing what you
believe they need.- Kevin Wedmore,
president, A2Z Annuity
Marketing, Inc.

27. Co-op your
talents. For those
of us that offer financial
workshops or would like to
start doing so and may have
limited funding, offer to
stage a workshop at a local
Council on Aging. If you can
convince the council
director that you are
sincere and knowledgeable,
he or she will be very
grateful to allow you to
offer a valuable
informational service to
their senior community. This
way you will not have the
need for any cost involved
except for refreshments.- Stefanos Loisou,
independent agent

28. Building a
nest. It pays to
know your territory, or more
specifically the large-scale
employers in your area. Very
often these entities will
have at the very least a
401K plan and sometimes a
traditional, defined
contribution/benefit plan as
well.

Obtaining a favorable
appointment with a handful
of employees nearing
retirement can yield big
dividends. Also, obtaining
referrals to co-workers will
not require much effort and
will provide an ongoing
stream of prospects.- Jim Medici, CLU, ChFC,
CLTC, Senior VP of
marketing, Zenith Marketing
Group

29. The magic of
the Web. I started
doing online Web site
marketing many years ago
and, very truthfully, did it
all wrong. Now, I clearly
see the future in my
practice has to be one that
places my electronic
business card, photo,
information and ideas in
front of people on the other
end who are searching for
me.

Finally, clients and I
started to meet over the
Web, even doing business
world wide in some cases,
and having never personally
met many of my clients who
find me on the Internet.- M.D. Anderson,
president, Financial
Strategies, Inc.

30. Speak the
language. Poor
communication leads to poor
sales. Understand your
clients, know what motivates
them and speak to that end.

31. Use daily
newspapers. Ask the
publisher what day of the
week most seniors read the
paper. That's the day you
want to advertise.

33. Dinner time
An idea that has worked out
extremely well for our firm
is taking our best clients
at least once a year out to
dinner along with the
spouses. The clients meet my
wife and this has taken our
relationship to a new level.
Now when I speak to these
clients, their first comment
is usually, "How is Linda?"
Furthermore, it seems that
this process involving the
spouse has opened up new
sources of referrals.Stuart J. Pastrich,CFP
managing director,
Compass Financial Group

The drip approach
34. We mail
birthday cards to existing
clients; anniversary cards
if we know that info.

35. Send
an email blast regarding
recent tax changes. In fact,
we do a lot of marketing
toward tax season with many
different types of direct
mail flyers.

36. We
also hold client
appreciation parties with
our clients and their
friends throughout the year,
which include a seminar.

37.
During the summer months we
organize a golf tournament
and give a short seminar
before the event.

38. We
are always getting our image
branded (building brand name
recognition). The image for
our logo is something I feel
the seniors can relate too.

39. We
also host a monthly
educational dinner 2-3 times
per month for new prospects.

40. The
most important thing to
remember is that you always
need to be marketing.- Darian Andreson,
president,Senior
Tax Advisory Group, Inc.

Berry' best41. Set
appointments at your
seminars. Sign up people
while the information and
desire is fresh; a
cooling-off period will
leave you with fewer
appointments set and kept.

42.
Change is good. We are
always willing to try new
things. For example, an
invitation that worked well
for you over the past three
years may not work well for
you in the fourth.

43.
Although change is good,
make sure your changes are
tested and that there is a
review process to determine
if the change was
beneficial.

44. Make
your own confirmation calls
for seminars. Although most
direct mail marketing firms
provide a confirmation call
service, you may want to
make them yourself.

45. Tax
check Just ask each client
to review their form 1040
with you to uncover who's
needlessly paying taxes on
money they aren't using. An
annuity may be an ideal
solution for these clients.- Michael Harrison, VP,
annuity sales and marketing,
AIG American General46. Stop prospecting
for clients! Spend
your time prospecting with
people who associate with
the type of client you are
looking for. For example, if
you are looking for clients
who are transitioning into
long term health care
environments, network with
people in that field. They
are dealing with hundreds of
your ideal prospects every
year.

47. Use what you
know best to become the
local expert on that
subject. Use that
knowledge to write a column
in at least one local senior
publication. Many of the
free senior newspapers that
are available outside
discount and grocery stores
will let you write an
article if you purchase a
small ad.

48. Plan to
prospect. Pick a
time each week where you
schedule appointments, don't
accept incoming phone calls
and can't be interrupted.

49. Learn to use
the computer. I
know it sounds trite, but
using the technology
available to you is
important. Research and
communication are the two
primary areas to focus on,
but being computer-savvy may
just save you a case or two
because of your ability to
quickly get the information
the client needs.

50. Find a niche
and position yourself within
it. If you know a
lot about one thing compared
to a little about a lot of
things, you will be more
focused and most likely,
more successful.

51. Practice,
practice, practice.
After years in this
business, it is easy to
become complacent. Prepare
your presentation, prepare
your close and prepare your
follow-up.

52. Review your
sales call ... both
good and bad. Too many times
we play the "ones that got
away" over and over in our
minds. But what about the
sales calls that go right?
We can learn as much from
them as from those
unsuccessful calls.

53. Stay current
on the issues affecting your
clients. Follow
trends in the industry by
faithfully reading leading
industry publications and
learn what others are doing
in the market.

54. Be creative!
Your senior clients
will remember the little
things that you do if they
are original and creative.
For example, a monthly
calendar of local events is
a good way to stay in touch.
It can be mailed or emailed,
depending upon the client.

55. Solidify the
sale. Don't just
deliver the policy you
wrote. Reinforce the reasons
your client trusted you
enough to part with their
money and choose you over
the other advisors who have
tried before you.- Kevin Wedmore,
president,A2Z
Annuity Marketing, Inc.

56.
Maintain a database of the
people attending your
seminars. This information
can be very useful in
determining whether a
registrant needs to be
removed from your mailing
list.

57. Use
queries in your database to
determine which locations
are providing you with the
greatest or lowest returns
on your marketing
investments and then
increase or decrease
expenditures accordingly.

58. Have
a client appreciation dinner
for the purpose of building
rapport with your clients.

A committee approach60. For
years, we have utilized a
group of independent,
financial professionals to
serve all of the needs of
our clients. In effect, this
is wealth management by
committee, with one
professional serving as the
captain of the team and as
the go-between with the
other professionals. This
has allowed us to
successfully compete with
large financial brokerages
and the "jack of all trades"
financial planner.

The key is finding the
right professionals to team
up with: You need an
attorney, an accountant, an
insurance professional and a
financial advisor to start.
We now have four attorneys,
three accountants, one asset
manager, three financial
advisors, an IRA specialist,
two long term care agents,
three annuity specialists
and various other
professionals.- Steven G. Johnson,
director, Retirement
Solutions Group, Inc.

61.The Electronic
database. It's very
important to get email
addresses from all your
clients, with their
permission to accept your
information from
time-to-time. Use this to
send them tips and solutions
up to twice per month. The
info can be directly related
to a product or service you
wish to offer, or totally
unrelated. This serves both
to keep your name in front
of them and also to maintain
a "trusted advisor" status.- Kal Reece, Freedom
Equity Group

DobkinismsFrequent Senior
Market Advisor contributor
Jeffrey Dobkin has a unique
perspective on the world of
marketing. Following are a
short list of some of his
best tips.

62. The
most valuable tool in
marketing at the lowest cost
is a letter. Write one
business-getting letter
every day.

63. The
best formula for creating
headlines in marketing is:
"New product offers benefit,
benefit, benefit." Use this
to create the headline of
your press releases and
advertisements, etc.

64. The
most valuable single sheet
of paper you can create in
marketing is a press
release. You should be
sending press releases every
month.

65. When
you are having a tough time
writing, just start writing
anything, then go back and
cross out your first
sentence.- Jeffrey Dobkin

66.
Follow up serious inquiries
and sales leads with more
than one piece of mail.

67. The
11 most valuable words to
get any press release
published are: "Are you the
person I should send this
press release to?" Before
sending any important press
release, call the magazine
or newspaper editor and say
those words.

68.
Create a letter series in
advance to get new business.
Mail one letter a month.

69.
Always acknowledge when
something nice is done for
you with a thank-you letter.
No, a call is not the same.

70.
Before you start to write
any business communication,
always write your objective
first. Knowing this
objective gives your writing
more focus.

71. If
you'd really like a response
from a personal letter,
include a return envelope in
it with a live stamp on it.
It'll either increase your
response or it'll drive them
nuts.

72.
Anytime you run a successful
long-term direct mail
campaign, test the variables
in subsequent mailings.ï¿½
Testing price is the most
important; higher prices may
sell better.

73. Take
your time writing. No one
will ever know the one-page
letter they received took
you three weeks to write.
Just make sure when you send
it, it's perfect.

74. In a
direct mail solicitation,
don't be afraid to ask for
the order several times. If
the recipient doesn't call
or send an order, the piece
fails. For best results, be
very explicit and tell the
reader exactly what you want
him to do twice in the body
copy, and again in the PS.- Jeffrey Dobkin, www.dobkin.com

75. Be a joiner.
The more you get
your name out there the
better. Join clubs and
organizations. Belong to the
local Chamber of Commerce.
Put yourself and your
company in the Yellow Pages.
Some inexpensive, even free
ways of getting your name
noticed are to send in your
picture along with a short
letter about what you do to
the business briefs section
of the Sunday newspaper.
Most papers have this and
most are free.

76. Gas station
approach. Also,
make up some flyers with
pull tabs on them with your
name and phone number and
ask every 7-11, convenience
store, gas station etc. that
you can find if you can hang
one on their bulletin board;
most will let you. Do as
many of these as you can and
you will start getting
calls.- Mike Shaver,
independent agent

78. Brown bag it.
My best marketing
idea so far has been a
monthly program called Women
and Investing Brown Bag
Lunches. One day each month
I hold a free, no-sales
meeting for women only, who
want to learn more about
investing, in my office
conference room. They bring
their own lunches and we
meet for an hour on a
specific topic that I
briefly "teach" and then we
all discuss. It's very
interactive. They bring
their real life examples and
questions.

It's easy to put
together, it's low-cost and
helps the public view you as
an expert. I never know how
many I will have but since
it,s in my office, that's
OK. The women bring their
friends and help with
spreading the word.- Drue McCracken,
McCracken Financial Group

79. Back to the
Yellow Pages. Have
defunct companies' phone
messages refer customers to
your business (with you
paying the balance of the
Yellow Pages fee in return).- Source: 301
Do-It-Yourself Marketing
Ideas: From America's Most
Innovative Small Companies

80. Card-carrying
marketer. I started
carrying a few cards for
people I meet who do not
have a business card. They
fill it out with their name,
address and phone, and I can
write what they are
interested in on the back.- Tom Chaffin, Freedom
Equity Group

81. The rotation
method. If you are
in the seminar marketing
business you must work a
"rotation" of venues to keep
it successful. Working one
market over and over will
saturate rapidly and reduce
your results.- W. Andrew Unkefer,
president & CEO, Unkefer &
Associates

82. Customer >
Computer. Use your
IMO to create technical
analysis and illustrations
for each case you work so
you can stay focused on your
business and your customer
relationships. Don't get
stuck in front of the
computer grinding out
numbers; stay in front of
your customers.- W. Andrew Unkefer

83. Put
the accent on visitor
experience, not traffic.
Traffic is useless if you
can't convert it into paying
customers. A visitor
experience optimized Web
site with 500 visits/day can
bring you twice the income
than an un-optimized one
with 10,000 visits/day.

85. Use
sitemap services on Google,
Yahoo and MSN. Not only will
it provide you with
invaluable server and Web
site data, but it will get
your pages in their index
faster.

86. Use
a pen and paper. Always have
an agenda and a pen around.
Jot down every crazy idea
you think of ... most of us
have truly great subjects to
write about, but during the
day we forget as we get busy
with other issues.

87. For
a business not to advertise
is like winking at a girl in
the dark. You know what you
are doing but no one else
does- Stuart H. Britt, U.S.
advertising consultant

88.
Don't be a copycat. Don't
write news or posts just to
have something for the big
Google. Nowadays,
duplicate-content filters
are continuously evolving,
and even if you gain
something on the short term
you will lose it later. Try
to be innovative.

From the vault
Classic marketing ideas
never go out of style. Below
are a list of great quips
from leading business
innovators.

89. You
can have brilliant ideas,
but if you cannot get them
across, your ideas will not
get you anywhere.- Lee Iacocca, former
Chrysler CEO

90. A
brand for a company is like
a reputation for a person.
You earn reputation by
trying to do hard things
well.- Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com

91. Your
premium brand had better be
delivering something
special, or it's not going
to get the business.- Warren Buffett,
Berkshire Hathaway

92.
Google actually relies on
our users to help with our
marketing. We have a very
high percentage of our users
who often tell others about
our search engine.- Sergey Brin, Google

93.
Early to bed, early to rise,
advertise, advertise,
advertise.- Ray Kroc, McDonald's

94. Now
we understand that the most
important thing we do is
market the product. We've
come around to saying that
Nike is a marketing-oriented
company, and the product is
our most important marketing
tool.- Phil Knight, Nike

Suitability spotlight95. The
purest treasure mortal times
can afford is a spotless
reputation.- William Shakespeare,
English dramatist

96. Next
to doing the right thing,
the most important thing is
to let people know you are
doing the right thing.- John Rockefeller

97.
Financial advisors must
follow the legal rules that
apply to marketing to
seniors as well as promoting
financial instruments. We
are legally required to meet
these standards.- Kathy Weaver,
ChoicePoint Precision
Marketing

98. It
is time in the
insurance/investment
business for advisors to
stop focusing on making
money for themselves and
start focusing on the
client. Sales is simple if
you do the right thing for
all of your clients. If you
focus completely on helping
a client without worrying
about the commissions, you
will build your practice
better.- John Gotschall, CLU,
Coaching Financial Concepts,
Inc.

99. I
tell clients that I diagnose
financial ailments. I
explain that peopleï¿½
self-administer their
financial health as they do
their own health. I further
explain that I look at all
the "over-the-counter"
products they have purchased
and see if any are in
opposition to another, and
if they work in harmony with
company and government
benefits.

I say there can be a
misdiagnosis that needs to
be addressed by a
professional. I ask if they
want their physician to
prescribe a medication
without hearing their
symptoms. I then request an
appointment to review their
financial concerns, as I
feel prescription, without
diagnosis, is malpractice.- Donald R. Beck,
Provident Financial
Corporation

100. Using your
tool box
I find it best to explain to
my client and prospective
clients financial products
in a way they can
comprehend. I use what I
call the "tool box analogy."
Every tool was designed to
perform a certain task and
when used as it was designed
for, it works perfectly for
the job. Such are the
products provided for use by
the financial industry. It
would be ridiculous to try
to use a low-yielding
checking account at a bank
to achieve a long-term,
tax-deferred growth plan,
such as it would be to
create an immediate
liquidity need by placing
one's assets into an
annuity.

Find out how your clients
and prospects understand
things and use these
analogies.- R.C. Rompala,
independent agent

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